Even though the ten o’clock news hasn’t started yet, you’re too tired to watch. How could you possibly stay awake that late? It’s time for carpools, lunch bags, after-school activities, dinner, homework, bath time, and bedtime, in addition to your job (or jobs) and your other adult responsibilities. Sleeping only gives you enough energy to wake up early and begin the routine again. With young kids, every day is a week, every week like a month.
Image Credit: Pexels/RDNE Stock project
It’s not the first time we’ve heard about attachment parenting, tiger parenting, and slow parenting. My experience as a pediatrician over the past 30 years has taught me that every parenting philosophy has a fundamental truth: Your children must spend meaningful time with you. They need to see who you are. In return, they will help you to see yourself better.
Practicing Meditation As A Parent
Focus on seeing, hearing, understanding, and genuinely being amazed by what you’ve made—living, breathing miracles of nature who are learning and growing like weeds. It’s easy to slip into an automatic pilot with your kids when you’re overwhelmed with your responsibilities. During these precious moments, if your mind is elsewhere, you have lost your kids’ childhood just as if you hadn’t spent any time with them.
Image Credit: Pexels/RDNE Stock project
Take A Pajama Walk
Children can be chaotic an hour before bedtime. An evening pajama walk is one of my favorite ways to help them calm down. In addition to giving your kids gentle, mellow time to decompress, it will also give you memorable moments with them. Pajama walks are all about pajamas. Take them out for a stroll on their tricycle or in their sneakers.
Embrace Their Games
Make sure you screen video games and learn how to play them before you allow your kids to experience this part of their world. As your kids may say, “kick your butt.” It is the one activity where you won’t let them win, and children should see their parents as human and vindictive sometimes.